Brush fire scorches 20 acres in Northern Kentucky

Fire officials are issuing a warning to residents after what was supposed to be a small clearing fire scorched 20 acres in Kenton County on Tuesday.

News 5's Laura Borchers talked to the two men who were working on the property earlier.

They said their task was to clear underbrush from a few acres but the burning vegetation quickly got away from them.

"Honestly, we wanted to clear out a lot of that anyway. This probably isn't the way to have that happen," said George Shaw, whose family owns the land.

Crews from a dozen agencies all over Northern Kentucky chipped in to knock down the flames using heavy machinery, chain saws and ATVs to attack what Kenton County Homeland Security Chief Steve Hensley said grew to a 20-acre brush fire.

"Apparently, what happened here is earlier this afternoon their were workers on the farm here that had a controlled burn going on and they were clearing out some ground level vegetation. Unfortunately, due to the elements out here and the wind blowing the fire got away from them," Hensley said.

They worked to prevent the destruction that happened this same time of year in 2010.

In that fire, 21 crews knocked down a blaze after it devoured 10 acres of forest and brush. That site was just a few blocks from the Rector Road property.

"Unfortunately we've dealt with these before and each time you deal with these you learn a little better how to deal with them," Hensley said.

This time firefighters were prepared to shuttle water into flames buried in the woods well over a mile off the roadway.

Diplomats and negotiators kept working Tuesday as a deadline approached to reach a deal on a framework agreement on Iran's nuclear program, but a U.S. State Department official said the discussion may continue after the cutoff.